Truck friendly places to see

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_n37_v25/ai_11316057/

 

The local truckstop where your wife/husband/friend meets you to clean out your truck and move on to a different/better career.

 

Sounds like Hooters, before they went all PC, and became "Friendly's with gym shorts,"

Can't state enough the value of a place like this without alcohol is to truckers. Gotta admit, a 24 hour a day topless joint isn't a bad proposition either. Sometimes I got more free time before noon than I do durring "traditional" club hours.

 

I think I saw that the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green was mentioned....if you're heading north on 65 you can also stop at the Luv's at exit 56. Across from the Luvs is Kentucky Down Under which has various animals and a pretty neat cave tour. Mamoth cave is close by but can't take a truck in

 

If one was in between Knoxville and Chattanooga on I-75 Xit60, you could go west about 1/2 mile is a Kangaroo truck stop. Tell the manager and they'll let you drop your trailer. Then bobtail east on Hwy 68 about 7 miles and you'll see Lost Sea on the left. Turn in and the huge first parking lot on the right is big enough for a bobtail.

Lost Sea is a huge underground caverns with an underground lake filled with blind fish. You go out in a glass bottom boat and feed them. Then they take you on a guided tour. It was pretty interesting if you never done such a thing.


http://www.thelostsea.com/

 

Captured German U-Boot at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. The drop yard on Halsted in South Chicago walk one block to the train. Or you can find good public transportation from anywhere you are permitted to park near Chicago. Most routes lead to the museum.

 

At the last Turnpike rest area outside Boston I parked my truck and walked over the freeway to the train. The train took me 30 miles to Boston's historic district and I walked the marked sidewalks and saw the USS Constitution.

 

The Neil Armstrong Museum in Wapakoneta, OH is accessible with truck and trailer. Park at Lowes and walk over to it. Lots of cool old stuff in there.

 

Try googling local specialties of each state. Every state if you ask enough people has a dish or specialty food, Runza restaurants in Nebraska, Maid-Rite burgers in Iowa, fried green tomatoes in some Southern states, slaw barbecue in Arkansas, Texas and Kansas barbecue are both great, Hatch NM Chile Rellenos, walk to get an original Philly Cheesesteak from the market in Philadelphia. If you walk a mile from the TA Nashville, go to the historic honky tonk district to hear the best country music ever on the street, see the original Grand ole oprey, Rhyman Auditorium, and explore the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In Dearborn Michigan visit the Henry Ford Museum but allow a day to see the indoor museum and the Lincoln chair from Ford's Theatre as well as the limousine Kennedy was assasinated in. Truck parking available as of 2018. Outback allow another day to see the village with homes and businesses of famous people in history moved to Dearborn-Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, an historic Inn and restaurant, ancient farms and homesteads, Model T Rides.

The Lincoln Presidential Library in Illinois was amazing. So was the Confederate Capitol in Richmond Virginia, but I parked several miles North from that one near a Krogers which after this post will probably be disallowed.
Mall of America in Minneapolis has truck parking but no overnite parking.

Fort Larned is a stone cavalry fort in Kansas that is fully restored with outfitted barracks-uniforms laid out like the soldiers just left. The blacksmith makes free souvenirs. Park rangers are in costume.
I google "Historic Sites" or "Museums" on google maps whenever I am stuck somewhere. I used to carry a $160 Schwinn Hinge folding bike with its own case in my truck that I bought online

 

I have no way of knowing if this is still possible, but back in 2013 or so, I had a load en route to Spokane WA...my trip took me thru Rapid City SD. Knowing I was only about 20 miles or so from Mount Rushmore, I asked the attendant at the Flying J there about dropping my trailer so I could bobtail up there, to which she replied "truckers do it all the time", and that would've been great for me--except TMC had (& probably still has) a strict policy against bobtailing, so I went out on a limb and drove the whole unit right up to the front gate of Mount Rushmore Park, which was as far as I could go with the truck. Thankfully that road was super wide up there, plenty of room to pull a U-turn with spreads, so I parked over on the shoulder, got out, walked up to the sign, took some pictures, stood there for a while trying to see if I could catch a glimpse of the actual sculptures, and just as I was turning to walk back to my truck, one of the park maintenance men drove by me, stopped, rolled down his window, looked at me, looked at my truck, looked back at me, smiled and said, "you really wanna go up there, don't you?" I said "yes I do". He replied, "hop in'. And up I went. Saw all the white billy goats up there, and up at the top I got to see Mount Rushmore up close and personal. The man even offered to take some photos of me in front of the sculptures. He was real nice about the whole thing, too. He then drove me back down to the park entrance (during which I notced the signs saying it was an 11% grade down, to which the gentleman chuckled, saying cars smoke their brakes all the time coming out of there), I thanked him, hopped back in my truck, fired it up, spun it around and headed on back down to I-90 and continued westward. It was probably a good 40 miles OOR all total, but for me at that time it was well worth it.

As for other places I remember...

Provided it's still there (and free), I do not remember the name of the place, but I believe it's exit 5 up I-91 in Springfield MA, there's a little spot called the Broad Street Truck Stop on west side of the freeway. IF you can find an open spot, it's right next to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. (Now this was as of 2013/2014, so I don't know if it's still free to park there or not.) If that one is full, there's another stop four miles north of exit 9A. That location was pretty decent from what I remember...I used to overnight there pretty frequently when I ran that area. (And again, I don't know if they still allow free parking there these days.)

Concerning the T/A across from downtown Nashville, ImI sure most know this by now, but if you plan on pulling a 34 in there, or even a 10, a/ get there before the sun goes down, and b/ don't even try it on the weekends during football season, unless you can grab a spot up front by the fuel islands, because during Titans home games they barricade off the back half of that parking lot, and will tow any trucks left there in the way. (Apparently TA makes some $ off the parking revenue they generate from that, which should tell you all you need to know about their "priorities".)

That's all I got for right now...